Toronto Raptors: Grading summer moves at the halfway mark

As we are at the halfway mark of the 2018-19 NBA season, the Toronto Raptors have played enough games to look back and grade their summer moves.

The Toronto Raptors have been pretty good for the first half of the 2018-19 NBA season. They are currently near the top of the Eastern Conference with a record of 30-12 and are looking better than ever.

The Raptors have certainly not underperformed throughout these past three regular seasons. They managed to secure a top-3 seed in the Eastern Conference each time out, as well as the 1-seed in the 2017-18 season.

Where they’ve really struggled to perform was in the NBA Playoffs. After three consecutive eliminations to the Cleveland Cavaliers and finding little playoff success at all, some things were in desperate need of change.

Even though the Raptors did not quite blow up their entire roster during the summer, they did pull the trigger on some very noteworthy moves.

To this point, their moves seem to be paying off. As it turns out, adding arguably the best two-way player in the NBA significantly boosts your team’s offensive and defensive productivity, but it hasn’t just been Kawhi Leonard so far.

The Raptors did not have any draft picks in the 2018 NBA Draft and were not very active in snatching up free agents, with the exception being Greg Monroe. As a result, the team had to get better in some other way.

Many players have stepped up and helped elevate this team to the next level. Pascal Siakam is a candidate for the Most Improved Player award. Kyle Lowry has embraced a new playmaking kind of role, which has made him elite. Serge Ibaka is shaking off that “hilariously overpaid” title of his by turning into a great two-way player.

https://twitter.com/sergeibaka/status/1082356446749089792

Taking all that into consideration, now is the best time to grade all of the moves that the Toronto Raptors decided to make during the 2018 offseason.